Mar 1, 2013

Tough road ahead for the DPJ

The Democratic Party of Japan, which suffered a severe setback in the Dec. 16 Lower House election, on Feb. 24 held a party convention aimed at laying the foundation for its resuscitation. Although it adopted a party platform and a seven-point declaration, it is ...

Apr 6, 2012

Consumption tax tizzy

The March 30 submission to the Diet by the Noda Cabinet of a bill to raise the consumption tax from April 2014 has led some lawmakers of the ruling bloc to express their opposition to the bill. On March 29, Mr. Shizuka Kamei, head ...

Mar 29, 2012

Child allowance devoid of principle

Providing a monthly child allowance of ¥26,000 for each child aged 15 or younger to all the child-rearing families was one of the primary campaign promises made by the Democratic Party of Japan in the August 2009 Lower House election and it began providing ...

Mar 6, 2012

Work for the public's well-being

During a debate in the Lower House last week, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Mr. Sadakazu Tanigaki, chief of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, appeared to have reached agreements on several issues. The ruling and opposition parties should use that momentum to break the ...

Mar 3, 2012

How to push reform forward

by Shinji Fukukawa

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has stated he would stake his political life on realizing integrated reform of the tax and social security systems. Japan’s financial structure is worse than those of other advanced countries and even that of Greece, which was responsible for the ...

Jan 27, 2012

Criticism without originality

The Liberal Democratic Party on Jan. 22 held a party convention in Tokyo. LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki said that this year is the time to end the Democratic Party of Japan government. The problem is that while the LDP is strong at criticizing the ...

Jan 23, 2012

All parties should debate tax hike

Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Azuma Koshiishi on Thursday requested that opposition parties take part in consultations with the DPJ over a planned increase of the consumption tax and reform of the social welfare system. But the opposition parties have declined. Given the ...

Jan 7, 2012

Bumpy road ahead for Mr. Noda

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, at a new year news conference Jan. 4, expressed his determination to push a two-stage raise of the consumption tax as well as to reform the social welfare system, and called for the opposition forces to join consultations with his ...